The Afghan incumbent ‘is going to win’ the 7th November run-off election, New York Times quoted the IEC chief as saying

Azizullah Ludin, chairman of the Afghan Independent Election Commission (IEC) in an interview with an American newspaper has said that "they will have the same election and the same result as the first round."

According to the article, the efforts by John Kerry, an influential US Senator and other European leaders to have the second round of the election, could avoid a political disaster in Afghanistan.

Despite the IEC being considered as an impartial body it broadly works in favour of incumbent Karzai, the report further says.

Meanwhile, some Afghan experts termed the statement of Mr Ludin as a partisan statement saying that it shows he is biased towards President Karzai.

“The statement by Mr Ludin means that the IEC is not impartial regarding the election and support of Hamid Karzai,” said an Afghan MP, Ahmad Jebraieli.

Hamid Karzai has tried his best to avoid the runoff but the effort by John Kerry and other western officials could overcome the eruption of a crisis in Afghanistan, the article noted.

The Afghan second round election is slated for Nov 7th and the harsh winter and Taliban threat are considered big challenges confronting the process.

The IEC ordered a Nov 7th run-off for the disputed presidential election after a fraud investigation dropped President Karzai’s votes below 50 percent of the total.

The Election Complaints Commission (ECC) says it is sacking hundreds of officials from the first round and cutting the number of polling stations.

President Karzai has called on Afghan people to take part in the run-off election, as the turnout in the first round was unexpectedly low at 40%.

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